CRESSON, Pa. – An incoming class with some of his Flood City Elite teammates helped persuade Penn Cambria High School senior Caden Gibbons into signing with the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown.
Gibbons also wants to be part of a group that hopes to lift the Pitt-Johnstown baseball program to new heights during his career. He found many attractive features when he visited the Richland Township campus, and he officially signed to play baseball there Tuesday afternoon.
“It’s definitely close to home, which I like,” Gibbons said. “They have a new coach and he’s really building a really good program. They have a lot of kids in my class that I played with through our travel organization from Flood City going there. I thought I’d like to be a part of something up and coming.”
Pitt-Johnstown competes at the NCAA Division II level. The Mountain Cats are 17-29 overall and 7-17 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West Division under coach George Roberts, a Forest Hills graduate and a 2013 Arizona Diamondbacks draft pick.
Gibbons will join a class featuring Conemaugh Township senior Colin Dinyar as the group looks to change the fortunes of the baseball program at Pitt-Johnstown.
“Originally, I talked to some other schools,” Gibbons said. “Then Colin told me he was leaning toward UPJ and told me he wanted me to room with him.
“It definitely played a factor. Him and I used to play catch from 8 years old until this year.”
Gibbons was recruited as a utility player who is capable of playing in the middle infield and in the outfield.
Also a member of the basketball team, Gibbons will major in physical therapy.
“I really liked if you go to UPJ for physical therapy, you’re automatically enrolled in the Pitt doctorate program, which is really cool,” Gibbons said. “I thought Pitt physical therapy is one of the best around in Pennsylvania, so you can’t beat that.”
Gibbons is hitting .442 this season with a .529 on-base percentage and .698 slugging percentage, which includes five doubles, three triples, 19 hits, 16 stolen bases, 13 runs, and 11 RBIs. He has a career .379 average (69-for-182) with 14 doubles, five triples, three home runs, 40 stolen bases, 61 runs and 32 RBIs.
“My dad played baseball at Alabama for a year,” Caden Gibbons said of Ben Gibbons, who transferred to Alabama after playing at Indiana (Pa.). “It’s always been in my future, I feel like, to try and just follow his footsteps and play a collegiate sport.”
A Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference selection in both baseball and basketball, Gibbons scored the most points in program history this winter, tallying 42 points. Gibbons enjoys how baseball is an individual and team sport at the same time.
“I really like being able to communicate between plays with your team and being a part of a team,” Gibbons said.
“One guy can’t do it. You have to string hits together. You have to play as a team. I also like there’s an individual aspect when you’re hitting, you versus the pitcher. I like that it combines both a team sport and an individualized aspect of it.”
Jake Oswalt is a copy editor for The Tribune-Democrat.